Bacon, Edward W. (Edward Woolsey), 1843-1887

Edward Woolsey Bacon (1843-1887) was born in New Haven, Conn., the son of the Reverend Dr. Leonard Bacon (1802-1881), prominent Congregational minister and opponent of slavery. Edward Bacon left Yale University at the age of seventeen and joined the U.S. Navy as a captain's clerk during the Civil War. By 1864, however, Bacon had switched to the army and served with distinction as a captain with the 29th Connecticut Volunteers, Colored Regiment, Army of the James, and later as major of the 117th U.S. Colored Troops. After the war his troops were assigned to Brownsville, Tex., where he sat with the General Court Martial. Soon, however, Bacon resigned from the army, returned to Yale, and in 1877 became minister of the Second Congregational Church in New London, Conn. Ill-health forced him to travel to California several times, where he died at the age of forty-four. He was married in 1869 to Mary Elizabeth Staples ( - ), granddaughter of Jonathan Knight (1789-1864), a founder of Yale Medical School.

From the description of Papers, 1861-1865. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 207110786

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